Vrindavan 1982

Black Truffle is thrilled to

present a previously unheard performance by rudra veena master Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, recorded in the North Indian city of Vrindavan at the Druhpad Samaroh fes=val in 1982.

Adorned with beau=ful archival photographs of Dagar taken by Swedish percussion legend Bengt Berger and accompanied by detailed notes from Bradford Bailey, Vrindavan 1982 is a stunning document of music unmatched in its pa=ent focus and mysterious emo=onal depth. 

This previously unreleased live set is the perfect way to acquaint yourself with a legendary instrumentalist whose work thrived on live performance’ VINYL FACTORY ALBUMS OF THE WEEK.

Z.M. Dagar was a nineteenth-genera=on descendant of the Dagar family of musicians, famed for their profoundly medita=ve approach to the tradi=on of Hindustani court music. Perhaps the most revered members of the family were the brothers Mohinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar, who played a key role in reawakening interest in dhrupad in the mid-20th century. The great exponents of the tradi=on from whom Z.M. Dagar descended were all singers, and dhrupad is essen=ally vocal music. However, as Z.M. Dagar explained, the veena family of instruments plays an important role in the educa=on and prac=ce of dhrupad singers, especially as an aid to mastering the fine microtonal nuances of pitch essen=al to the genre. Introduced as a child by his father to the rudra veena, a large and low-pitched veena amplified by two enormous gourds, Z.M. Dagar became the first modern dhrupad musician to perform with it as an instrumental soloist, giving his first recital at the age of 16.

Devoted to the instrument throughout his life, he made innova=ons to its design and materials, as well as introducing novel techniques (such as playing without the use of the tradi=onal wire plectrum, resul=ng in the remarkable warmth of his tone). In the great Dagar family tradi=on, his approach to the various ragas that make up the dhrupad repertoire was stately, slow, and considered, with a great emphasis on the alap, the heavily improvised exposi=on sec=on. True to form, in this recording of Dagar performing the night raga Yaman Kalyan, the alap sec=on stretches out to more than forty minutes of slow-mo=on bliss, a frozen tanpura drone hovering above Dagar’s gracefully bent notes and elegantly twis=ng phrases. In the alap’s first half, Dagar’s figures are so intently focused on the lower reaches of the rudra veena’s range that they register more as shudders and moans than melodic palerns. As the performance con=nues, he slowly climbs in pitch, though con=nuing with the same intent focus on the ar=cula=on of single notes and subtle microtonal varia=ons. This leads to the jod sec=on of the performance, which, though s=ll accompanied only by the tanpura, gradually takes on a more rhythmic character. Developing almost impercep=bly over the course of nearly thirty minutes, the jod moves from the s=llness of the opening alap to a rapid pulse that announces the closing sec=on of the piece, where Dagar is joined by Shrikant Mishra on the pakhawaj (a double headed hand drum). Where many performers use the final sec=on of the raga as an exercise in unrestrained virtuosity, Dagar and Mishra subtly weave a web of finely shihing accents and hypno=c melodic varia=ons, bringing the recording to a fiHng conclusion while remaining within the medita=ve space occupied by the performance as a whole